ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now let’s get back to the core issue of policing and joining me now to discuss that is Chief Constable Alex Marshall. He spent 20 years with the Metropolitan Police before becoming head of Hampshire Police and he is now the Chief Executive of the College of Policing, the body in charge of upholding professional standards in the police force. A very good morning to you, Chief Constable.

ALEX MARSHALL: Good morning.

DM: This is the problem isn’t it, the damage that is being done to police standards by this whole so-called Plebgate scandal?

ALEX MARSHALL: Absolutely, this is a damaging episode, this damages trust and confidence in the police service and actually it detracts from the very good work that is done by officers day and night keeping the public safe and reducing crime, which is what’s been happening over recent years. The long term trend in public confidence in the police has gone up since 2003 and that’s earned on the back of people working earlies, lates and nights and solving crime and doing a really good job.

DM: So what needs to be done with this issue, the officers at the heart of this, who have been giving evidence before MPs, the representatives of the people? I mean accused by the Chair of that committee of deliberately misleading them, saying it was like a work of fiction. These are sworn officers.

ALEX MARSHALL: That is very serious indeed and I am very pleased to see that this investigation is now going to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and there will be a full independent investigation and it’s my view that there should have been from the start. I’ve also said all the way along that the officers should have apologised and they should have apologised very clearly.

DM: So within what you said there, there is some criticism of the Chief Constables of those officers who didn’t get them to do that.

ALEX MARSHALL: Well the Chief Constables appeared in front of the committee and had to account for their actions. They have also been criticised in this report and they will have to respond to those criticisms. In the same report, the Home Affairs Committee makes reference to the Code of Ethics, there’s a draft Code of Ethics published by the College of Policing last week, that’s now out for public consultation until the end of November and like other serious professions we are setting out in the Code of Ethics, in plain English, what is expected for everyone who works in policing.

DM: So what you are saying in effect is there is a slight generational issue going on here, the new era of police officers who are coming through training like you’re giving them are a bit different from those we’ve seen in front of the committee, they’re more old school?

ALEX MARSHALL: Well I think the performance of those at the committee was poor and it did not demonstrate what you would expect to see from police officers. There will be colleagues of those officers all over the country, including Federation representatives, who have an absolutely valid role in representing their members but not getting involved in this sort of thing. There will be officers all over the country very frustrated by what they saw. That’s not what you expect from police officers and the Code of Ethics sets out in very clear terms what is expected.

DM: Because you’re not just battling with this, this has come on top of so many other criticisms of police which seem to have damaged trust. Of the top of my head I can think of Hillsborough, some of the Savile affair, the phone hacking affair – all of these have had dimensions which seem to damage the police force.

ALEX MARSHALL: Yes, I think collectively they have damaged confidence in the police. As I say, since 2003 public confidence has been going up and I think that’s earned in the local environment where if your local police care about the area, who are pursuing criminals, who are reducing crime and solving long-term problems then I think you have trust in the police but each of these cases is damaging and must be addressed.

DM: It is a real frustration, what you seem to be describing is real frustration and in particular with the rank and file and with the Police Federation which is meant to represent them. Do they feel that because of what’s gone on here with Plebgate and Andrew Mitchell, that somehow they are all getting tarred with the same brush?

ALEX MARSHALL: Yes, I think they do feel like that. Police officers cannot join a union, they cannot go on strike and the Police Federation has a perfectly valid role in representing their views but members of the Police Federation are police officers, they must never, ever forget they are police officers and the Code of Ethics applies to everyone in the Police Federation, the same as it does to everyone else who works in policing.

DM: But this is doing as much damage to the police as say corruption, when it comes to corruption that’s hard and fast, we know the police act to root that out and prosecute those involved but what happens then to officers who damage the police force in different ways? Should they, for example, no longer be allowed to be police officers?

ALEX MARSHALL: Well for a start there should be a strong and independent body to investigate allegations against the police. You are right to mention the rooting out of corrupt officers and Chief Constables and forces all over the country have pursued those small number of corrupt officers and have rooted them out and you’ve seen people leave the service and be prosecuted. People must uphold high standards when they join the police, the Code of Ethics spells those standards out and for people joining the police service, day one, lesson one, Code of Ethics.

DM: Chief Constable, thank you very much indeed for your time, Alex Marshall there.